Plenty of folks in town had died at all ages and all times of day or night, some gruesome, some passive, and every one of them referred to afterward as having been ‘too good’ or ‘too young’, or on rare occasions both.

GI Joe

1945 

The trucks parade down Constitution Avenue. I have practiced the steely glint in my eye, holding my beak parallel to the horizon regardless of the rumbling engine. On my right rises the august sandstone of the Smithsonian, an institution one might take pride in, except I know the basements are filled with the feathers of vanished birds.

Ksjhe was trying to sleep but the smoke from the fires was everywhere. He went to his computer and tried to appease it by typing fire, fire fire fire fire fire fire fire fire into the box. I see you. I see you fire. I smell you fire. I will keep you away by calling your name. You do not need to come any closer because I know who you are.

She’s standing in line at the registration table when she sees him, two writers ahead. Sun-spritzed brown hair, strong hands. A hint of crow’s feet indicating he’s maybe fortysomething. No wedding ring. When he leans over the table to sign a form, she admires his pen, a Montblanc, shiny black with its signature bloom of snow at the top.